Financial

Networking has become synonymous with the line “open-minded ka ba?” But people who once joined an MLM group have some positive things to say about the business that everyone loves to hate.

I vividly remember the day when my P.E. teacher asked if there’s anyone in our class who wanted a part-time job. Four students raised their hands, myself included. We were asked to stay after class.

An hour later, we found ourselves getting introduced to networking, right at the bleachers of our school’s basketball court. Out of the four, I was the only one who got convinced. I was barely sixteen.

I was excited, managed to afford to become a member, but I didn’t know what I was doing. I left when the semester ended.

About three years later, I was recruited again this time by a total stranger. After several days of attending orientations and getting introduced to a lot of “successful” people, I decided to give it another try.

It was fun, and I was learning a lot. But I was not really making any money just like the first time. I left after over a year and never returned.

Personally, networking may not have given me the wealth that I was hoping to attain, but I learned a lot of things that I still keep until now.

The Strategies.

There were marketing strategies that we were practicing in order to convince people to sign up. In fact, using the word “convince” is a big no-no as it implies being pushy. We did not want you to feel that we are forcing you to join.

We are not recruiting you either, we are”inviting” you. And we do not want you to sell products, you simply need to “share”.

By being mindful of the words we use, things become easier between us and a potential future member. I believe this to be true in any endeavor that one would venture into.

If you Dream, Dream Big!

This is probably the biggest thing that I learned from joining an MLM company. We were encouraged to create vision boards, to be very ambitious, and be a believer in endless possibilities.

We became dreamers who did not want to be limited by our current realities.
I took this learning with me until now. The only difference is that I have also learned to be more accepting and gracious of anything that the present moment is giving me. And with being grateful comes the continuous hard work towards achieving my goals based on what I have now and what I know now.

Prepare to be Hated.

Many experts say that you must be willing to be hated in order to be successful. Famous people are being bashed left and right, but because they long accepted this to be a part of the formula to greatness, no amount of hate could bring them down.

Successful people have the most haters because they achieved something that the haters could only dream of. Rejections are common for people who are into networking, but when you look at it, it happens to everyone, all the time.

Have you also been invited to be one these networking groups? How was your experience?

We all have that one co-worker who passes around brochures at the workplace – selling food, clothes, bags, and the like. Some of us just feel the need for an additional income, or perhaps just business-minded by nature.

That is probably something that I lack: a business mindset. Which is why I am surprised that looking back, I actually engaged into a few sidelines over the past few years.

I remember joining a networking company twice, which oddly enough, is the same company. I joined them when I was barely 16, then left, and joined again four years later. I failed in both instances, which I took as a sign that talking in front of people is not the right path for me to get somewhere.

Anyway, here are some of the most common sidelines that anyone can explore.

1. Photography Services

If you have an expensive DSLR camera, or if you can afford one, why not make money out of it if you have the talent and skill at photography? Most photographers started as a hobbyist, and slowly gained experiences from there.

How to start? Obtain the knowledge and skills to be a professional photographer. The money in this industry largely come from wedding photography, so it is important to enhance your skill at taking portraiture. Join photography groups as a freelancer, and while at it, learn the ins and outs of the business.

My team ran a wedding and events photography group for four years, and while the business was good, we parted ways and some of us went on to put up their own photography businesses.

Pros: Big pay! We started at a very competitive rate at the beginning and consistently increased the rate for every six months or so. The experience is definitely worth it.

Cons: The task is often too demanding. Weddings often require at least 2 photographers and 1 videographers. Depending on the package, a one man team can do the job, nonetheless.

2. Sell Food

I use to receive a weekly “non-work” email from someone at the office for meal orders. I asked her to exclude me from her mailing list as I am not a fan of Asian foods, which is what she’s selling.

But if burgers or sandwiches are on the menu, I would probably placing my order every week.

Pros: You won’t run out of people who are getting hungry.Cons: When selling is not allowed at work.

3. Become a Financial Advisor

It was 2011 when I got interested about insurance and investment. Luckily, an advisor was kind enough to teach me the basics all via email. But I was too scared then to put my money at “risk”, so I never purchased a policy.

Five years later, I got introduced to this again when a co-worker became a SunLife advisor. As I still don’t fully understand insurance and VULs, I asked her to do all the paperworks for me and show me my options.
I trusted her because I see her at the office everyday, and I can ask her questions at anytime.

Yes, she’s able to do her regular office job and her sideline as a financial advisor at the same time.

Pros: Big commissions! Plus, it’s easier to sell insurance these days.Cons: Needs your time and commitment. Consider this only if you see yourself doing it full time later on.

4. Try Blogging

Blogging, if done right, can be profitable. In order to make money with a blog, you need to drive a significant amount of traffic into it. That’s the first factor to look at when you want to start a blog with profit in mind: quality contents that people will consume.

In choosing a topic or niche, what people need is more important than your interest or passion. Your brilliant piece of writing wont really translate to cash if no one wants to read it. Ask yourself, are people searching for these topics on Google?

Your content should attract netizens because they find it interesting, educational, or helpful. Always aim to offer “value”, and people will notice. When they do, that’s when the monetization begins.

Pros: There are lots of free online resources about how to make money blogging.Cons: It takes time and huge patience to build a large following in order to keep a steady flow of traffic.

5. Online Selling

Why not bring your products online? There are several apps that you could take advantage of such as OLX and Carousell.

The good thing is, you can sell almost everything online – from your “pre-loved” clothes and accessories, to used gadgets or appliances. Take this as a hint: my last online purchase was a pack of ground Arabica coffee!

The possibilities are endless. And with the current technology, you can do almost all of these at the comforts of your home.

Is there even such thing as free money? We’ll, we use to receive money from our parents, relatives or friends (or strangers if we’re lucky).

And we all know those days are long gone. The free money stopped coming in after we celebrated our 18th birthday, or when we graduated from college, when we got our first job, or right after getting married.

But there are many ways in which we can still receive free money as adults. They come in many forms, and we may have ignored the chances and opportunities when they presented themselves, without us even knowing it.

Here are some of the ways that we may have denied ourselves of “free money” before. See if you could relate to these.

Passing up on Rewards Card Offers

Almost every store offers a rewards card, some for free when you buy a pricey product. These rewards cards earn you points which can be used in your next purchase.

I think the SM Advantage card is the most common and flexible rewards card available in the Philippines. We all go and shop at SM, so why not get the card? No, I am not promoting this product at all! In fact, I’ve always thought that the P100 fee for the card is ridiculous that I never bothered getting one. But things changed when I received the BDO Rewards Card which has the same function and usage as an SM Advantage Card.

And you are right, you don’t always need to get a rewards card. To cite an example, a branch of ACE Hardware offered me their card when I purchased several items from them last year. I thought it would be useful as I will be needing to go back to the store for more, but I barely earned points after that. I still have a year before the card expires though, so I hope I’d be able to at least recover the P100 that I spent for the card.Lesson learned: If you are unsure if you will be a regular customer to the store, get their rewards card only if it’s free!

Not Using Your Points!

So you have all these cards and you never used the points you’ve earned. Before you knew it, the redeeming period had already lapsed or the card has is already expired. Or perhaps you always forget to use them when you shop? That would be points and money wasted.

Make sure to check those cards in your purse or wallet when you can. They may have already earned you free money for your next shopping.

Not Taking Advantage of Discounted Payments

Aside from looking for discounted items when you shop, you might be paying bills where you could get a discount by paying in advance.

One example is the Real Property Tax or Amilyar. I just started paying mine through my developer, and next year, I’ll be making the payment in the city hall myself. I am already planning to go and pay in January next year right after the holidays! Why so early?! Because I want to get that 20% discount, while intentionally avoiding the long lines occurring towards the end of the deadline.

Ignoring Company Discounts

Some shops would partner with companies or offices to offer discounts to their employees. This gives your company ID some discounting powers! Check if your company is getting any of these, or perhaps you did not read the email?

Avoiding Credit Card Perks

Because they are evils that lure us towards spending more.

But in summary, there may be some discount offerings from merchants which are exclusive to your bank’s credit card holders. I often ignore these promos, but it doesn’t hurt to know if there are any offer which you can take advantage of. This category actually deserves an entirely separate article because there are actually a lot of credit card perks that you can get if you are a wise credit card user.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT purchase because it’s discounted. Swipe because you NEED it, it is TIMELY, and it is DISCOUNTED.

Freebies

I am guilty of this because I don’t often like freebies the same way that I stay away from free tastes at grocery stores.

But freebies, are still free money in disguise. Be careful though and do not fall in to the trap of being so attracted to freebies, and purchase an item just because of the free stuff that comes with it. So, similar to rule about credit card promos above, only get an item that comes with a freebie, if you need it! Or if the freebie comes without any conditions, that would be perfect!

Referral Fees

There are also many ways in which you could earn from referral fees. Let’s start at work, your company’s recruitment team may have a referral program where you get a cash reward when an applicant that you refer gets hired.

If you are a Grab or Uber rider, you also get points or free rides when someone downloads the app and sign up using your referral code. If you are a frequent traveler and is an Airbnb and Klook customer, they have a referral program which you could take advantage of too.

Do you know why agents are willing to move mountains in order for your credit card application, or bank loans to get approved? Because of the referral fees that they receive! So next time you take “referring” for granted, think again!
Could you relate to any of these? What other sources of “free money” could you share?

I have been working for over ten years now. By this time, I should already be maintaining a healthy savings account. At least, that was my expectations when I started planning on what to do with my life after college. But realities start to sink in when five years after landing my first job, I still had no savings. And worse, I was in debt!

Sadly, that was the only time that I started to practice saving money. However, I failed in all my attempts that until now, I still do not own that healthy bank account that I was expecting to have.

As I am teaching myself to save money now, I came to realize and understand the many factors that contributed to my poor financial habits. Most of these are rooted from the kind of financial upbringing that I was raised to, plus my unwillingness to take responsibility and take adulting a lot more seriously.

And while I’m on this journey of educating myself on how to be financially free, I am having all these light bulb moments, and I can’t help but look around and realize that I am not alone! According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)’s latest Consumer Finance Survey released in January 2017, almost half of the entire country’s deposit accounts have a balance of P5,000 or less:

This data shows that a lot of Filipinos are actually paying for service charges since most banks have a minimum maintaining balance of P3,000! Consider yourself lucky if your bank account has an average daily balance of more then P5,001.

And can you believe that only 14% of Filipino households have deposit accounts?!

So why is it so hard for an average Filipino to save money? I guess we cannot simply attribute this to poverty. A lot of it has something to do with our spending and budgeting behaviors.

Here are some of the reasons why we find it so difficult to save money. In all honesty, I was able to come up with this list because I was once guilty of all these “crimes”!

Loan Mentality

As a kid, I would hear my mom say“wala na aka sinasahod, nai-utang na lahat”. I was probably too young to understand these words back then, but it instilled in me the thought that being in debt is normal. My sister, who was also still in grade school at that time, would joke about things like “wala pa man yung sweldo ay nagastos na”.

In short, we were exposed to this loan mentality that we also ended up being in debt when it was our turn to make money. We know it was a problem, but we see it as a normal and common problem because everyone we know has this same problem. So we thought it’s fine.

Nope, it’s not fine.

It’s very hard to let go of the loan mentality that I could only wish I was raised with a “saving” mentality instead. All my adult life, I considered taking a loan as the only way to afford things that I wanted or needed. Before I knew it, I was already in huge debt and living from paycheck to paycheck.How can you adapt a saving mentality?

I say, start small. For the past ten years, my attempts at saving were never successful because I always wanted to start big. I would follow the different money rules and the ideal ratio of spending versus saving. But because I was not wired to save, it never worked for me. Starting with a big amount then forcing myself to be frugal and stick within a budget until the next payday, is too much for someone who didn’t grow up doing it.

Treat it like you are getting rid of an addiction, start small and slow. You will need to condition your mind about saving first until it becomes a habit. It took me years to practice this. So start with an amount that you can forget and not end up withdrawing from your bank account later on. It doesn’t matter if you are only savings P100 at first, keep on doing it until it becomes normal. When that happens, you can then start adding more. Again, do not attempt an abrupt change by jumping from say P100 to P1000. Doing so might trigger your brain to remind you of your old bad habits. You do not want to go back there anymore.

Consumer Mentality

One time, when I was a kid, my father gave me some new five peso coins. He asked me to keep them, they are new, he said. I didn’t understand what he meant by “keeping” them. I went to our neighbor’s sari-sari store and spent those 5 peso coins. I saw his disappointment when a few days later, I told him that I already spent them all.
See? I didn’t know that he actually wanted me to save the coins. Because along with the loan mentality, I was also raised with a consumer mentality.

Malls are huge in the Philippines because people flock to them. It has become an extension of our living and dining rooms. Sunday is a family day, which translates to hearing mass then spend the rest of the weekend in a mall. Malls are where we spend our hard earned money. Why? Simple – for most of us, we work and earn money so we have something to spend. Consumer mentality.

It’s alright to spend. Because, why not? But along with spending, make sure that you are also saving. Another saving challenge: go ahead and buy that shoes. But remember to save the same amount that you spent on that shoes. Because if you can withdraw P4,000 for a pair of shoes, why not save P4,000 for your future?

We Love to Celebrate

Fiesta culture. We love festivities, we love to celebrate. And when we celebrate, we spend! There’s nothing wrong about celebrating. But when you have to borrow money just to spend for a celebration, maybe it’s time to reconsider?

We Splurge on Payday

Just today, my co-worker sent an email invite to everyone for a lunch out on the next payday. It’s a familiar scenario of how employees “enjoy” the fruits of their labor. We go to Starbucks, or we set aside at least a P500 budget for lunch or dinner with co-workers, and not to mention the drinking sessions over the weekend.

And we would intend to shop because it’s payday sale!

All these to make pancit-canton and 3-in-1 coffee our diet for a week before the next payout.
Again, no one is forbidden to spend, for as long as you pay yourself first – by saving first!

Facebook Culture

We love to share. We do not only love to share our “blessings”, but we share a lot about our lives too. We make sure that our neighbors will know of the new appliance that we just bought, new gadgets, new clothes. When social media took over our lives, we fill our timelines with beautiful life events for the whole world to see.

Sometimes, we feel obliged to post photos of all of our happy moments, because why not? But a lot of us are taking it too far – buying things they do not need just to keep their Facebook timeline looking impressive and expensive.

We Take Pride on our Resilience

We proudly declare to the world that Filipinos are very resilient. That we can survive every challenge that come our way. And that because we are used to dealing with life’s difficulties, we are expected to make it through the toughest of situations.

Unfortunately, this has affected the way we look at our future. We would postpone saving money because we believe that we can always find ways to handle things in times of financial crisis. Worse, we do not see the importance of saving at all because, well, we are resilient.

We Believe in Luck

I myself always thought that winning the lottery is my only way out of poverty. I would buy a lottery ticket and pray that I will win!

We believe in luck. We believe that someday, the Almighty will send us blessings in the form of miracles, like manna and moolah falling from the skies.

Oprah Winfrey has a very good definition of luck – “luck is preparation meeting opportunity”. I think this is very true. If you want to be blessed, you have to prepare yourself for that blessing. You have to be able to handle it, otherwise, you will end up failing. If you want a high-paying job, you have to prepare for that job by earning the necessary expertise and skills, so that when the opportunity comes, you are ready. That is true luck!

Despite all these, I think a new generation of Pinoy “savers” is starting to emerge. This is evident in the huge following that financial and business Facebook pages are getting. The Peso Sense Facebook page for example already has almost three million followers (as of this writing). You know these are not fake likers because of the very active page engagement – lots of discussions about money, paying off debts, and followers who are actually sharing their own experiences and tips on how to save.

Other finance and business-focused pages like MoneyMax.ph and Entrepreneur Philippines have large social media following too. All these are good signs of what to come, and again makes me feel that I am not alone! I am so glad that many of us have found financial enlightenment, let’s keep sharing and spreading the good news.

Aside from finding ways to saving on food and transportation, another thing that I needed to address is my coffee addiction.

While I am not really a Starbucks fan, I use to get coffee from them at least once a week. When I moved to my new place, there’s a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf beside our lobby, and a fancy Starbucks branch across the street. I would spend my Saturday and Sunday afternoons in any of these coffee shops for about five months. I am so glad I made a decision to take saving money seriously before things get out of hand.My love affair with cafés is another thing. There’s something about these cozy places that I find irresistible, and I use to not mind spending money just to be there. Well, it has everything that attracts my soul – the warm ambiance, unique and artsy interiors, nice looking people, and of course the smell of freshly brewed coffee. But again, it comes with a price.

Back home in the province, this is where I sip my coffee every morning. If only I have a similar view of my own here in Manila:How do you save money on coffee if you are a coffee addict? I’ve tried my best in the past three months, and I am making a slow but consistent progress.

I don’t buy coffee for more than P50.

Yes, fifty pesos is the highest I would go when buying coffee outside. So far, I have two sources:

McDonald’s – P45 for a large cup, with FREE one-time refill.Country Style – P50 for a small cup (they don’t have size variants), also with FREE one-time refill

I’ve been a drinking coffee from McDonald’s since 2013. I tried Country Style’s coffee three years ago, and I’ve been their loyal customer since then. Not only that their coffee is cheap, they don’t cater to the usual young, loud customers, and I love that.

I am now brewing my own coffee at home.

Putting these mugs that my sister gave me four years ago to good use.

I had to start by buying a coffee maker which is actually not that expensive. You can get one for just P600 here in the Philippines; I bought mine for P799. As much as possible, I bring my coffee at work (that would be my second cup for the day). Buying the fifty-peso coffee that I mentioned above is just an alternative. I think, brewing your own is the best and most effective way to save money on coffee.

When comes to coffee beans, I buy local.

I never really paid attentions to coffee beans before as I thought I could just pick one from coffee shops or grocery stores. But when I was in Sagada last November, I fell in love with their coffee that I had to ask the server where they’re getting it. I learned that it’s an Arabica coffee from Atok, Benguet. I wasn’t able to get one from Baguio, so I searched for stores that sell them here in Manila. They’re a lot cheaper, and I say local farmer friendly. Here’s a sample price list that a Quezon City-based seller sent me:

No to 3-in-1 coffee.

Not only that they are too sugary, but what’s with all those powder? They fill up almost 1/4 of my cup! I have to be honest though, we use to love them especially in the province. I see them a lot at the office too. It’s cheap and instant which we all like, but I also decided to stop buying and drinking them. It is more of a health issue for me, but actually, you won’t really need them if you are brewing.

Creating my own coffee corner at home!

I am planning to have my condo unit renovated this year, and I want a café interior as a theme! I’d like to find out if that would further keep me away from cafés, I hope it will. I have lots of ideas on my mind and I can’t wait to make them happen. With this, I can imagine my social life going from zero to negative zero.

Don’t drink coffee at all?

I don’t think I could do this, ever. There were others who were able to do it, but I do not think this is an option for me at the moment. That would be too much of a challenge. Could you actually get rid of coffee?

I don’t know where my coffee addiction came from exactly, but drinking coffee is nothing but normal in our household for as long as I could remember. When I moved to the city for high school, learning that kids there don’t drink coffee came as a culture shock to me. I was amused that I was the only one in our class who drinks coffee.

I eventually stopped drinking coffee during my mid-teenage years until I graduated from college. Years later after landing my current job, it suddenly became a daily routine for me to go to a coffee shop. The addiction came with the feeling of no guilt at all for spending P100 or so for coffee everyday. Not until I created this blog, went through a financial crisis, and made saving money a priority that I realized P100 a day actually totals to P36,500 a year! That’s enough to keep me motivated and continue with what I’ve started.
Are you addicted to coffee too?

In this article, I will focus only on the fees. Yes, the many fees that you will be paying before and during your move-in, up until you start occupying the unit. It is good to have knowledge about these fees so that you could prepare and won’t get surprised or overwhelmed later on.

1. First on the list is the reservation fee.

So you’ve already decided on which property to purchase, and your agent is now regularly contacting and updating you. To seal the deal, you will be asked to pay the reservation fee.The reservation fee ranges from P15,000 to P20,000 (more or less). Just consider this as a processing fee for everyone who will be working on your papers, including your agent. For them, this is also an assurance that you are a serious buyer, and that they are not wasting their time preparing the paperworks for you.

The downpayment is not refundable after a certain period, but is often deductible from the total price depending on the policy of the developer. You would often see this in the sample computation that agents are giving out. Make sure to ask for the receipt upon paying the reservation fee.

Your contract will come during this phase. It will be notarized as soon as you sign the paperwork, and you will be given soft and original hard copies.2. The downpayment.

A downpayment could go from as low as 5% up to 50% of the total unit price. You can talk this out with your agent as most developers are now offering terms which are very flexible, often meeting halfway with the client. The downpayment can also be paid via installment. This would be a practical option especially for a pre-selling property.

In my case, I opted for the 10% downpayment and 90% home loan. The 10% downpayment was payable for twelve (12) months, but can be paid in full at anytime within those 12 months.

3. After the downpayment, comes the hardest part – applying for a home loan.

Needless to say, this is not applicable if you are buying your unit in cash but for the majority of us, our options are:

I say, this is the biggest payment that you will be making, so it is very important to determine beforehand if you are illegible for a bank loan or a Pag-IBIG housing loan. It would help to begin making those inquiries from banks and Pag-IBIG before you even start paying the downpayment. I have shared my harrowing experience in getting a bank’s approval of my home loan in the below post, and it is something that I do not wish anyone to experience:

Okay, your home loan application has been approved, congratulations! You will be signing tons of documents in the bank, and in order for your papers to get moving, you will be paying more fees!

Basically, you can consider this as another processing fee similar to the reservation fee above, but plus applicable tax and more. This is to be paid in full, and comes with a 3-5 days deadline. I paid around P70,000 in bank fees for my home loan back in 2016.5. Time to move-in! You are not done paying yet. Prepare around P50,000 for the following:

– move-in fee, which is equivalent to one to three months of your monthly association dues. Note that this is not an advance payment; you will still start paying condo dues in your first month.

– other requirements such as fire extinguisher, grease trap and range hood installations.

– construction bond if you decide to have interior renovations. I haven’t done this yet so I couldn’t confirm if the construction bond is refundable in full.

6. On with the monthly bills:

Electric and water bills, plus the monthly condominium association dues. More about condo dues in this post:

Well, in addition to your monthly amortization, you will be paying for these three for as long as you own the unit. Say your monthly amortization is P15,000, add another P3,000 to P5,000 for these bills. You will be needing around P18,000 to P20,000 every month for your condo unit alone.

Why am I sharing all these?

The “for as low as P10K monthly” lines in bold letters that you see on those flyers are very enticing. I have some friends who paid for reservation fees because they were attracted to the supposedly low monthly payment. Unfortunately, they would later on learn about all these other fees and realize that they do not have the capacity to pay for them yet. Note that the reservation fee is often not refundable, so avoid giving away P15,000 or P20,000 for nothing.

It is important to research and be aware about the actual amount that you will be needing before, during and after buying a condo. I am lucky to have a very supportive family that together, we somehow became financially capable for this endeavor. It is one of the best decisions that I ever made, and I’m glad that I went for it.

Can you save money on your phone bill without totally cutting your plan subscription? I was asking my self the same question while reviewing my payment history with Globe. I can’t believe I’ve been paying P3,000-P4,000 for my phone plan in the past eleven months:

A quick throwback to almost a year ago when I decided to extend my 30-month phone plan subscription with Globe. I was originally subscribed to Plan999, and I upgraded to Plan1799 with an iPhone7 Plus handset (for P800 a month). That turns my total monthly bill to P2,599 for 24 months. Where does the additional P1,500 coming from? Excess usage!

What is the Excess Usage for?

Basically, the Plan1799 includes unlimited call to Globe and TM numbers, unlimited text to all networks, and a 10GB worth of data. I only call Globe and TM numbers, so I know right away that these charges are from my excessive data usage. We are all aware about the data capping that Globe and Smart are imposing. Well, because I do not allow myself to be limited by this data cap, I made the decision to pay the price. How much? P1,500 it is.

So if your plan offers a 10GB data for a month, every KB of data in excess to that is automatically worth P1,500. You’ll be paying for the excess charge anyway, so why not go unli with it? Here’s how my recent data excess charge was computed:

P1,339.29+%VAT equals P1,500 excess usage.

I understand that data is expensive so I feel that the excess charge is reasonable for a 55.6GB volume. This is the reason why I do not want to get cable as I could watch everything online. I am still hesitant to make that move to DSL or Fibr as I am more mobile as I thought; I can’t be without data when I step out of the house.Now, how can we save on our phone plans???

Ask first if you really need the plan. Maybe consider cutting it after the contract expires, and go for prepaid. Nonetheless, if you feel that you are better off with a plan, decide on which plan is the best for you. Globe and Smart are quite flexible with their offerings, so determine which inclusions you would really want to spend on:

Data

If you have DSL at home, you definitely won’t need a high volume of data. Unless you travel all the time or you cannot live without streaming videos wherever you are, maybe it’s time to get a lower data plan. I would say 3GB is recommended for a month of regular mobile surfing:

Call and Text

Are you actually calling and texting all the time? If yes, the unli-text and call is perfect for you. Otherwise, get rid of it and look for a plan that includes a consumable option. Make sure to stick within that limit to avoid extra charges.

Other Inclusions!

Do you actually want all those inclusions? Perhaps your data allowance is already enough to cover everything, so check your bill for any unused inclusions. Ask your service provider to remove them if there are any.

Free Subscription that Auto-renews

Your plan may include free subscriptions to Spotify, Netflix, etc. They are free for a certain period, normally around 3-6 months and will auto-renew after that. If you do not want to keep the paid subscription for the succeeding months, contact your network and unsubscribe before it starts appearing on your bill.

Paper Bills

Do you really need the paper bill? Banks and other networks accept soft copies and print outs of your bill as a proof of billing. I don’t know which other purpose would you be needing the paper bill for. With Globe, that is P50 a month and they actually encourage their users to go paperless. Subscribe to paperless billing and save that 50 pesos (P600 per year)!

Source: Globe FAQs

Lastly, get a cheaper handset.

I want to keep my number so I am extending my plan with this as the major reason. I realized, I may not be wanting an iPhone again in the near future. I will also be going back to my old Plan999 after my current subscription expires, and will downgrade to a cheaper phone, most probably an Android. The expensive, new phones this year will surely get cheaper next year!
I get a lot of calls from Globe offering me additional lines, and I am always firm at declining them. Which reminds me – do not get an additional line! Unless you need them for business purposes, you do not want to pay for more than one phone bill a month.

How are you saving on your phone bills? Have you experienced switching from postpaid back to prepaid?

I am happy that I started this challenge for myself. It feels great to have gotten that drive to do it, and having a blog to document my progress makes it even more exciting. I admit that I am not a saver, so being able to come up with ideas on how to save, and having the discipline to follow them is in itself already an achievement.

My first month of trying to religiously follow my own rules has not been very easy, I admit to cheating a few times. Here’s a summary of how my first month of saving money went.

1. Not booking Grab or Uber when going to work.

I’m just glad to have been able to make a jeepney ride for my commute to work a daily routine. Indeed, anything that you regularly do for 21 days straight can become a habit. Well, I’ve been taking a jeepney for almost two months now so my plan actually worked. I am saving not less than Php100 a day, and that’s great.

For my safety, I still book a ride from Grab when going home after work, often between 1 and 3 in the morning.

2. Less and less fast-food.

Fast-food is my weakness. It was my main source of “nourishment” for the past 15 years or so, and that makes it very difficult to remove from my system. Needless to say, cutting down my fast-food intake from 2-3 times a day to 2-3 times a week was a great improvement.

Which means, I have to learn to prepare my own food. I can’t cook, so cheap canned goods are my savior. Thankfully, I am not your typical Filipino who can’t survive a day without eating rice. I can live with burgers and fries for a week, but I am substituting that with bread and healthier sandwiches that I buy from a bakery near my place. Soon, I plan to prepare my own sandwich and bring it to work along with my coffee. Speaking of which:

3. I am now brewing my own coffee!

I just bought a coffee maker, and ordered an Atok Arabica ground coffee with that. Moreover, the coffeemaker was purchased using a P1000 Sodexo gift certificate that I got from joining a blog contest in November. Wonderful!

I am a supporter of local produce so I am going for the Arabica coffee from Benguet. I learned about it when I was in Sagada last November. Coincidentally, I saw some Instagram posts about the Beguet coffee, and the hard works that local farmers put into harvesting and processing the beans. That inspired me to patronize their product even more.

Now, along with these money saving habits, I just started saving my 50 peso bills again. Let’s see how much I would save at the end of the year. I’m also thinking about doing my groceries by bulk. I mean because I am your typical lazy guy, I don’t go from aisle to aisle inside the grocery. I buy what I need one at a time, and I don’t mind if that means a daily trip to the grocery store downstairs where I live. How are you saving on groceries?

I realized, I might be able to save if I buy a one week worth of groceries at a time. This is also to make sure that I won’t end up ordering food online when I run out of food supplies. I work until 1 or 2 in the morning so other than the 7/11 in our building, my only option when I’m hungry are 24-hour fast-food deliveries! I would want to avoid that as much as I could.

Lastly, I am taking advantage of the cold January weather and decided to unplug my AC. The electric fan is more than enough. This started in December and my electric bill went from approximately P1600 to P350! Awesome!

This is one of the many regional stereotypes in the Philippines which I could personally identify with being an Ilocano myself. The funny thing is, I didn’t know that the rest of the country is stereotyping us as “kuripot” until I got in to college.

I don’t know the story or history behind this, but I could only assume that most of our ancestors are just being thrifty. Kuripot means stingy in English, but I find being thrifty more appropriate.

See? Ilocanos are not the richest ethnic group in the Philippines, and most of our forefathers probably started as farmers and fishermen. They had to make ends meet, and was not exposed to anything extravagant which could have tempted them to spend a lot or even gave them the idea to splurge.

My grandfather was a farmer, fisherman, and a hunter. He hunted to literally put food on the table, not some hobby or just for fun thing. He grew up during World War II, and never set foot to school. He was illiterate; I remember him turning the pages of a classic Filipino comics and was interpreting the drawings as he couldn’t read the texts. When I started high school in the mid-90’s, he was surprised when he learned that I was getting a weekly allowance of a hundred pesos. He thought that was way too big. His knowledge of the value of (Philippine) currency was 20 years too late.

Clearly my grandfather didn’t know money. If he was alive today and I bring him to Jollibee, he would get overwhelmed at the price of the cheapest value meal. He would probably never want me to pay 50 pesos for a meal when the supply of rice and native chicken back in his farm is overflowing.

Why am I saying this? It’s my personal theory of where this stereotype came from. Our ancestors were not very rich and educated. They are practical, they’d rather fish, or plant and harvest their camote than buy them at the market.

I honestly feel offended when someone calls me kuripot. If I was, I would have already saved a lot of money. I wouldn’t have had credit card troubles. And I wouldn’t be blogging about finances today.

But yes, I’ve learned my lesson and I thought it’s time for me to live up to this stereotype! I should be kuripot from now on. I already started not taking Uber or Grab when going to work. After seven years of relying on food deliveries, I already stopped using fast-food delivery apps. I am now learning how to cook, and limiting my fast-food intake to only once a day. I am buying my own coffee maker so I won’t be making that daily trip to some coffee shop anymore. Today and moving forward, being kuripot is life!

Fresh out of college and you just landed your first ever job – congratulations and welcome to the real world! You must be thinking about what to do with your first sweldo now, and let’s be honest, most of you would probably spend them on:

Get that item you’ve always wanted to buy, or anything that you’d like to remember your first sweldo years from now.

Bills. Especially if you are renting, you’ll be sharing on rent, water and electric bills.

This is how we normally budget our first salary. We do not really think about saving yet, and that may be alright. However, if this has been going on for a few months, it’s time to re-think about how we are budgeting our money. Months could turn to years, and that is when living from paycheck to paycheck happens – if you never put your plans of saving money in to practice.

Ten years ago, I got my second job here in Manila and I still didn’t know how to save. My supervisor, who was just about 2-3 years older than me was traveling around South East Asia and I remember asking, how could she do that? She must be receiving a really high pay! Those were the days when seat sales or Peso fares are not a thing yet, so traveling was a lot more expensive.

She actually sat me down and gave me a few tips about saving. She was the one who first told me about the right formula (literally) on how to save. Here are some of the basics on how to budget your salary that even old timers like me need to know.1. Pay yourself first.

Upon receiving your salary, put away a certain amount for your savings. The formula is always salary minus savings, and spend only what is left after savings. Stick to this rule! The earlier you put this to practice, the better. Make it a habit. Immediately save a certain amount as soon as you receive your pay, then forget about it. Whatever is left is the only money you have until the next payday.

2. How much should you save?

Ideally, 20% of you income should go to your savings.

If you have been working for a while and still having a hard time to save, go small. Maybe 10%? This is considered too low for many, but for the rest of us who are not savers, starting small does the trick. Again, you need to make saving money a habit, and if you’ve been used to spending all your money, starting big is not going to work. Chances are, you would go broke a week before payday and you would end up “stealing” from your savings account. Try to start small until you can make saving a habit, then add more as you progress.

3. Now, do you feel that you are not earning enough to be able to save?

A higher salary is not a guarantee either. When you earn more, you will tend to upgrade on everything. When I started working, I thought my salary is just enough for my budget on spending. There’s not enough left for saving, and that is because I was not following the formula. I thought I’d be able to save when I get a better-paying job. And so I thought.

I spent five years in my second job, and experienced salary increases every year. But it never felt enough. Why? Because I kept on upgrading my lifestyle too. That’s how some of us have been conditioned to think. Let’s put an end to this mentality!

4. Are you renting?

Make sure that only 20% to 30% of your salary is going to your rent. If your rent is more than 30% of your salary, look for a cheaper place. There are also lots of ways to save when you are renting, and I discussed them in this post:

If you are not renting, it means that the amount you are saving should not be less than 30% of your salary. Try 40%!Again, start early. Save while you are young. Always pay yourself first. A healthy bank account could mean a lot of things later on – being able to afford insurance and investments at an early age, bigger chances of getting approved of your home or auto loans, and even your credit card applications.

Banks will be offering you stuff such as a reward cardsand other promos. Above all, the sense of security knowing that you have money to use in case of emergency is priceless!

I wish I’d known all these before I graduated. I wish there was a mandatory finance or budgeting classes to enroll in. Are they now teaching these in schools?